In breaking down the Player of the Year race for both the CardPlayer Magazine and the Global Poker Index, it did cross our minds – how is the race for women in poker? There is only one “official” Ladies’ Player of the Year race, and it is a doozy as plenty of notable names are in contention. Who is there, you ask? Well, a former Women’s POY, the defending champion, and plenty of other notable names have made the Top Ten.
Kristen Foxen Has a Tentative Lead
A former winner of that award, Kristen Foxen, is sitting at the top of the Global Poker Index Ladies’ Player of the Year race. While her husband Alex is battling for the overall POY, Kristen is playing some outstanding poker in her own right. To this point in the 2023 tournament poker season, Kristen has been able to amass 2797.68 points, with a deep run in the Seminole Hard Rock Poker Open’s $1000 Deep Stack serving as what pushed her into the lead (a 300-point award for her runner up finish).
That couldn’t have sat well with the person she passed, the 2021 Ladies’ Player of the Year Nadya Magnus. Magnus also had a very nice run at the SHRPO, earning a sizeable chunk of points (363.7) for her seventh-place finish in the Championship Event. Even adding in a deep finish in the PokerStars North American Poker Tour’s High Roller event (seventh place, 183.5 points) wasn’t enough to move Nadya to the top, but she is poised in second with 2501.41 points.
The third-place slot on the leaderboard is held by veteran pro Kitty Kuo. Although she hasn’t cashed in a tournament since August, Kitty has built up enough points that she slots in at the #3 position. Kitty was also the beneficiary of some fortune at the SHRPO, earning a fourth-place finish in the Championship Event to push her to 2222.79 points.
The Pack is in Pursuit
Several players are in pursuit of this trio that, with one big finish in the next month, could thrust their names into the mix for POY.
Topping that list is Victoria Livschitz. After taking on the boys during the Poker Masters series (two final tables, two fifth-place finishes), Victoria took off for the Mediterranean and the European Poker Tour Cyprus. While there, she tapped into three more cashes that have been able to move her into the fourth-place position.
Fifth place is a player who has already shown she can come from behind, the defending Ladies’ Player of the Year Cherish Andrews. Andrews, who captured the 2022 Ladies’ POY in a stirring fashion at the WPT World Championship in passing another lady on this list, has not added to her stats since she played at the Maryland State Poker Championship’s Main Event in August, is in the fifth-place position with 2079.64 points.
Angela Jordison, the player that Andrews passed in 2022 for the Ladies’ POY, is itching to get up the ladder to claim something that she probably feels she should have won last year. She’s been making a tour of the WSOP Circuit, Run Good Poker Series, and the Michigan State Poker Championship in an attempt to garner points towards the Ladies’ POY, but she hasn’t been able to add any points to her sixth-place 2075.64 total because the events just aren’t large enough.
Here’s a breakdown of the Top Ten, who all have a shot at the Global Poker Index Ladies’ Player of the Year title – IF they get on a good run over the next five weeks.
1. Kristen Foxen, 2797.68 points
2. Nadya Magnus, 2501.41
3. Kitty Kuo, 2222.79
4. Victoria Livschitz, 2159.86
5. Cherish Andrews, 2079.64*
6. Angela Jordison, 2075.64
7. Cecile Ticherfatine, 2014.19
8. Loni Harwood, 1906.62
9. Debbie Lee, 1784.02
10. Hong Pham, 1702.34
(* – defending POY)
With the WPT and the EPT both holding big tournament festivals over the next month (and both have Ladies’ events), there are opportunities for players to rise up the leaderboard. It is going to take a big score, however, for one of those players on the lower rungs of the ladder to make a run to the Top Five and/or knock off Foxen for the title.
